My Darling Boy & Girl

Luke had an exceptional night last night! The past few nights have been getting progressively better sleep-wise. He has always slept at night, sometimes needing me to return for burping or a little more nursing, etc., but he has been good at wanting to sleep at night. However, he was getting up to eat a lot so it seemed, especially last week. Finally, we seem to have turned a corner- last night he slept from 9:30-4am!!!! It felt so good to get that much sleep in a row- plus, I was able to pump afterwards and get a bottles'-worth! You know that's worth gold to me!

So, after all that good sleep and a morning snoozer, Luke awoke very smiley with one little sad face- funny thing is he never cried, even with that lower lip! I am LOVING those killer dimples!







This was priceless- I so wish you could hear Bunny's voice...she sweetly looked at me and asked, "Wunt sum Mommy's drink?" It was caffiene-free Diet Pepsi- hoping she wouldn't like it and she would quit asking me every time I have a "pop" as Midwesterners call it, I said okay. She was shocked...and ecstatic. (see first pic) Then, she tried it...drum roll...her response, "YUUUMMY!!!!!! Wunt sum more Mommy's drink!" What?! Backfire to say the least. So, she got a few more sips and loved it (see second pic)

"Pumping Baby Luke"

Oh, the joys of motherhood! It's hilarious watching Rebekah emulate all that I do! As my dear friend, Mindy, said it's precious and scary to see them copy us so much! Anyway, Rebekah is really into "Mommy pump for Baby Luke!" So, yes, Rebekah pumps her bellybutton at the same time as I pump for Luke.

It has been great that Luke is such an eater- he takes the bottle in less than 10 minutes and takes it from me! We weren't real consistent with bottles with R b/c I hate pumping. So, Rebekah only took a bottle from my parents and since they live 13 hours away it only worked out when we visited. Honestly, nursing is a challenge for me- I know it is what God designed and I think that it is super-cool, but I don't absolutely love it like so many women do, which makes me feel bad. I think I don't love it for mostly selfish reasons- I constantly worry that something I ate is bothering my baby, that I'm not making enough, that I'll get an infection, etc...plus, the pressure of being the go-to 24/7 makes me feel trapped at times- this is the main reason I struggle. Then, I feel guilty b/c so many women are dying to nurse and can't and I can and don't always want to...so, I am working thru this. Josh is a great encourager and helps me with perspective...so all that to say that we are working on my pumping abilities, hoping to be able to store up enough to actually use it and have it be helpful. The crazy thing is that when the baby takes a bottle, you have to pump to make sure your body keeps up with milk production, but if you have time to pump, you have time to nurse, so what's the point? Plus, I am convinced I don't pump as much as I nurse, so it's a little stressful trying to replace milk. So, I am pumping after each nursing to store up extra in case I can't always pump right away. (this is tricky with 2 kids, but obviously R entertains herself) I would like to use some formula at some point if necessary, but with our upcoming changes, spending $ on formula if we don't absolutely have to is silly. So, that's that- more than you needed to know! ;)


Reclaiming the Bumbo...the next one was at Half-Price Books- she was delighted with the store and so many books at her disposal!!!


R wanted to hold big Baby Luke!!

...and she wanted to help Mama with the bottle...


Look at those dimples... :) He really is darling!

A little dreamy-eyed- I am surprised how much he already fills his carrier!



Yesterday I couldn't find Rebekah's Teddy Grahams that she misplaced. I told her I couldn't find them, but I'd look. I did and I found them. Rebekah was thrilled! She exclaimed in her adorable voice, "Teddy Grahams!!!! Mommy find them!" What was so precious was that she sounded proud of me. :) Similarly, Mamama bought a "poppy" for R- it is one of those plastic toys that pops off the table. You have to have just the right finesse to make it actually pop. R has already figured out that I am not so good at it and she'll start to ask me to do it, then say, "Daddy do it." Well, Daddy wasn't around, so she settled for me. She said, "Mommy try poppy." I obliged and lo and behold, it popped to great heights! With joy, surprise, and once again pride, R said, "Mommy did it!" Then, R tried- so cute- she flexed it, set it down, put her face 2 inches from it and coaxed very quietly, "Pop." Sadly, it did not.

We are realizing that R has memorized most of her favorite books- it has been really fun hearing her complete lines and anticipate them. I know I have mentioned this before, but I still am amazed. We also marvel at her ability to speak in sentences and answer most questions. I know I should correct it with a proper "yes" but her "yeaaa!" is so cute. :)

Sicko

So, Weds was a test of my mothering abilities. I failed...miserably! Both kids woke up with a bang! Luke was ready to eat- immediately if not sooner- and Rebekah threw up all over herself and our rug. Josh came to get me for back-up and we dealt with it all. Assuming R had just chugged some milk too fast, I happily planned on proceeding with my day- we had lots of fun plans, which helps me not to obsess about timetables and naps and staying on schedule. I tend to over-analyze things at home, but be more flexible when out and about, so I try to do that more. Anyway, Josh went to work and the day just got worse! In total, Rebekah threw up 10 times and took 5 naps- 2 on me until Luke woke up crying and needed me. It was nuts and I called Josh crying myself twice to come home and help me! With her sick and them napping at totally different times, there was no going anywhere, not even outside. Rebekah was obviously not herself and was very needy. Luke is 4 weeks old, so needy is the name of the game. However, I only have 2 hands...enough said. I could not hold/feed them both at the same time. It was a nightmare for me and for R- she was desperate for snuggles and impatient with her brother needing a feeding. On the upside, I realized that my normal days are not too bad! Yesterday definitely made me thankful for many things- 1) infancy doesn't last forever, 2) my husband is precious and dropped everything to help me and love on our kids, 3) on a normal day, Rebekah is funny and independent and lovey all wrapped up in one precious little package, 4) the Lord is my strength- I just need to trust him.
All is well today and I am a much better-rested mother after a family nap this afternoon. (Luke and I had too many meetings last night, so a nap was nonnegotiable).

More funny stuff:

2 or so weeks ago, Luke was smiling at me (I'm sure of it) and I was in a silly mood, so I started tapping his chubby little cheeks and saying "boop" each time I did it. Rebekah was a huge fan. Since then, every day, she has "booped Mommy," "Mommy, boop Bekah's arm," "Boop Luke!," etc...it's so funny. Tonight as I put her to bed, Rebekah interrupted our story time with "Boop Oaf!" So, she practically leaped over me to boop her big, stuffed animal. We then resumed our book.

As I was nursing the other day, Rebekah looked at me and pointed to you know what and said, "Luke's breakfast." I laughed pretty hard.

Rebekah loves a tiny little book about Baby Moses (granted she calls it Baby Jesus) that my mom gave her for Christmas. It has little flaps with the last half of the sentence underneath them. We thought we had lost the book but my mom found it in her purse from when she was here. Being the wonderful grandmother she is, Mom put it in the mail- Rebekah delightedly exclaimed "Baby Jesus!" when we opened the package. That was cool enough, but then I was delighted when I realized once again how smart my kid is- she knew what was under each flap- she anticipated what was coming and said each line before I did. Amazing.

Each night we pray before R goes to bed. I started asking her who she wants to pray for- the list has been "David, Grace, Anabelle, Mamama/Grandi, Nana/Papa, Daddy, and Mama" (out of pity, I think). She smiles coyly with each name. I love it. Tonight, Rebekah insisted on praying for "decorations"- her ABC's on the wall. I tried to tell her that we pray for people, not decorations. She didn't buy it. Then, I drew the line at praying for the flowers in the decorations.

When I was changing her diaper yesterday, I exclaimed, "Oh, Rebekah!" She immediately furrowed her brow and quipped, "Oh, honey, what'd ya eat?" I guess we've had that conversation before. (the answer was popcorn kernels)

Before 4 outfit changes- trying a sucker for hydration- yes, that's vomit on her shirt...

Loving on Baby Luke

Mama Rebekah

As to be expected, Rebekah is quite the little mama! She has taken to nursing her baby doll, complete with a good burping and kiss on top of the head. :) So precious. She is particularly fond of using my nursing pillow and is very frustrated when I have the nerve of using it myself! Fortunately we have a back-up Boppy that will sometimes do for Rebekah's use...





This is from this morning before we all got ready- Rebekah asked to sit on my lap while I had Luke. I gave her my knee. She took it, then eyed my actual lap where Luke was still presiding and pointed at it and said- "that lap." Point taken. That used to be her lap and now this baby has taken over! I thought it might be a good time to help her hold Baby Luke- she was a huge fan!


On Saturday night it rained all night- I know b/c I was up nursing- a lot! With such a steady rain and a river, we get tons of water on the roads- this was on my way to church...

Why I love my mother

Some stuff I love about my mom- in the order in which I think of them:

-She'll drop anything to help me

-She was the first to share Jesus with me (and every teacher I ever had!)

-She was willing to argue the age of the earth (as based off Genesis account) with the workers at the zoo

-She is devoted to her family

-She perseveres through anything and rarely needs a nap (unless she was up with my baby all night)

-She'll hold my baby all night

-She salts and peppers anything that goes in her mouth

-She can down 2 Route 44 Diet Cokes with cherry and lime on a daily basis (she doesn't, but can!)

-She planted the seed for my love of reading

-She gets 3 layers of butter on movie popcorn and brings her own salt shaker

-Even if she disagrees with me, it doesn't get in the way of her loving me

-She always wants my best, even if it doesn't mean her best

-She wears a smaller size than I do!

-She's a feisty redhead

-She loves my children almost as much as she loves me- and that's a lot!

-She loved and loves being our mom

-She spoils me (and my husband and my children)

-She gets off any phone call when she sees my name on the caller id

-She loves sappy movies as much as I do

-She likes all the same foods I do

-She is as honest as the day is long

-When I sold jewelry, she went to as many of the shows as she could just to spend time with me

-She brought me lunch to school when I was a child and when I taught school

-She loves the Lord

Mom- I love you. You're the best.

Snuggli & Playing with her buddies

I think this one looks like my dad, Bill!


Last night, we went for a family walk- Luke loved the Snuggli and we bypassed the fussy time- yea! Anyway, I felt like super-mom last night b/c I kept sleeping Luke in the Snuggli while I put R down for bed (yes, Josh was more than willing to do either, but I guess I wanted a challenge!)- she kept asking me to "take Baby Luke off!" but I persevered and she successfully went to bed. So, Josh does morning duty with her while Luke and I sleep in- I awoke to see some pretty funny pics! Apparently she saw the Snuggli and asked to put on "Mommy's coat." She wanted to carry Lamby around...how adorable!

I am still amazed how well Rebekah speaks- she even is starting to use "I" correctly- such as "I dropped it" etc. Her vocabulary is amazing, as is her memory for words. I think even more, tho, I love her sense of humor as she plays peekaboo and hides and narrates it all with "Bekah hiding!" She even made the keys hide the other day- she took them and put them in the keyhole in the kitchen door and made me find them, telling me the keys were hiding. I was very amused. Right now she is hugging me from behind while I sit on the couch and saying "I love you, Mommy"- so with that, I am going to love on my daughter!








Rebekah and I have spent some quality time with pals recently! With the nicer weather, it has been nice to play outside! Here are some pics of Rebekah with her play pals...

Playing with Grace at her house...


putting Lamby down the slide...

With Carter and the twins at church...

With Grace and Carter...

Funny Rebekah

As I am catching up on emails, thank you notes, etc., Rebekah is meticulously peeling all her Crayons- at first, I wasn't a fan, but then i thought- well, they're her Crayons, she can peel 'em if she wants to. She is really proud of herself- and she only broke one! I also just came in finishing chewing some M&M's- her nose is so good- she immediately said- want some M&M's!

Yesterday, R thought when I put Luke's carrier down that I was forgetting to bring him with us- she furrowed her brow and said "Bring Baby Luke with us?!" Very sweet- as if I would forget my own son...ha ha- I say that because more often than not right now, I am getting my children in the car, but forgetting essential items, such as diapers, milk, snacks, etc...

This week, I was trying to get Luke down for a nap- i.e. nursing him to sleep at the same time R would be going down- don't judge me, we're in survival mode right now! Anyway, Rebekah was reminding herself to be quiet- she was walking away from me and telling herself, "Quiiiieeet" very quietly- unfortunately, she was looking at me instead fo where she was going and thus tripped over her baby doll, making her faceplant on the wood floor while simultaneously dropping her Halloween basket of plastic toys as loud as humanly possible- I dubbed this episode- "Ironic"

Update on Luke- I am taking back my description of him as mellow. :) He's a little fussy when awake and the past week or so the evenings have been interesting...by interesting, I mean lots of crying for 1-3 hours. Tuesday was the worst- I held him the whole time and tried to feed him and he just cried until he nursed to sleep at 9:30 and slept until 3am. Weds night looked to be the same, so we put him in his crib for a break he cried less in his crib and then slept for a little while, then nursed to sleep. Last night, we did get him to eat when he was fussing, then we put him down awake, but swaddled, expecting the same...he crashed with hardly a peep! I had to wake him for a feeding- granted each evening that is progressively better, the night is shorter, but it's way better than sobbing baby! This morning, when he started fussing again, I swaddled him, put him down, and he fussed for less than a minute, then slept great...so ironic, once again- I was planning on holding my baby and rocking him to sleep and not putting him down for naps, but he seems (right now anyway) to do a lot better in his bed asleep...

Crisco Head

So, Rebekah was suspiciously quiet while I was nursing Luke this afternoon. Always dangerous...I racked my brain to remember what i had left within her reach on the kitchen counter- I knew she had been on her stool when I left her. We had been making cookies, so worst-case scenario, she was loading up on chocolate chips...right? I put Luke down for a nap and to my horror, Rebekah was happily digging into a package of CRISCO!!! It was all over the counter and, yes, her head! She is a lover of butter and butter products, so she was all over it, then insisted I clean it! So, I sneaked in and took pictures of her crisco-head while she napped- she was pretty grubby! So much so that my friends at playgroup asked if shye had just gone swimming or taken a shower. :)

The others were just while we were reading...

Scotland

Well, I decided it was time to update everyone on our future plans. We are for sure going to Scotland- to the University of Aberdeen! Josh will be pursuing his PhD in systematic theology- it should take 3-4 years and then who knows where we'll be! The program starts at the end of September and our visas only allow us to go 2 weeks early. So, the next update is that we sold our house! I love our house and our life here, but since we feel like going to Scotland is the next step, it's really cool to see all the pieces fall into place. We close at then end of this month, but will "lease" back for the month of June. We will move to TX for the summer and get some much-needed time with both our families. My brother and Becky are gracious enough to keep our furniture in their lovely home and store some boxes in their attic. So, we'll ship it down there via ABF. My mom is coming the last week of June to help us wrap things up and she'll fly back with Rebekah so as to save her from a 13-hour car trip. We'll sell Josh's car here to a friend and then drive back with Luke who will be nursing, so that should be interesting! We'll then unload in the Dallas-area and head off to Victoria, Josh's hometown for 3 or so weeks, where we'll live with his parents and Josh will be helping out at his dad's church. The, back to Dallas with my family.

So, that's the plan- bittersweet :)

Trying to post...

I have been trying to post for several days now- hopefully it will work now!

My parents went home Friday morning- dad was here for a few days but Mom had been with us for a month! We loved all the help and visiting time, but I think even she was ready for her own bed and routine. It was a sad departure, but the kids and I made it! :) We packed up, went to the mall, had lunch with Dada, and then went over to Carrie's. Rebekah had a great time at Carrie's! She napped there, then played outside with Isaac and Aaron. They threw rocks into a partially filled canoe- all was great until Rebekah tried to balance on the side of the canoe and fell in! I ran her inside in search of a clean diaper- all out- found one in the car- and then tried Aaron's door to find some shorts and a t-shirt. Carrie was running the older kids to piano lessons...anyway, apparently Aaron had locked the door from the inside- Carrie is good at unlocking it, but I am not. So, I found a pair of shorts in the laundry room (clean) and R wore those. It was at this point that Aaron came in soaked and we found ourselves in the same position! He was not excited that R got his shorts while I couldn't find him any- then I thought of the laundry room and got him a clean outfit, too. Then, Luke was up and as I changed him, he peed on me! A lot of liquids for one afternoon!

It's definitely harder juggling 2 and I haven't even really done it solo yet! I have had Josh around a lot and he is wonderful! He helps a lot, especially in the morning so I can sleep more. Praise him. Tuesday will be my first real day and I plan on running errands and hanging with friends! :)

Rebekah is still cracking me up! She is speaking in full sentences she has heard, such as "I can't see it...look at her running!...I don't like it...etc." I really wish I had a better memory- with these 2 on my mind, I haven't been as good at remembering her funny phrases- something made me laugh out loud this morning and I can't even vaguely recall it! At least she remembers me- I was curious if she would after a month of other people, namely my mom, taking care of her! We have had a good time reconnecting- she is still super-lovey and kissy, which I love! All the more reason to nap Luke in his crib- for safety! Anyway, Rebekah asked for all of her grandparents this morning, but then nodded as she told me they were in either "Texas" or "Dallas." She really does seem to do so much better if she knows where people are and why they're not here.

This morning, while josh went to class and worked on some homework, Rebekah, Luke, and I visited Amanda, Grace, and Sam. Luke was kind enough to sleep the whole time and Rebekah and Grace had a blast playing together, especially outside. I think going outside is what will keep R and me sane this summer as I try to balance mothering 2! Then, Jamie and the twins texted Amanda to meet at the church playground for a picnic and we invited ourselves and had another great time! Rebekah and Josiah had a lot of fun getting dirty together!

Before Mom and Dad left...

R in Aaron's shorts...
Picking dandelions at the park...

Luke (left) napping with his buddy Sam (almost 5 weeks older).

Driving with Grandi...
Mom holding Luke while Amanda holds Sam...


Dad holding Luke- I haven't mentioned that Luke is mini-Dad- seriously, Luke's mouth, round cheeks, and eyelids (strangely enough) resemble my dad...